Picture This or Catalogue Curiosities

I used to get a lot of odd catalogues in the mail. Sometimes how I got on the mailing list made sense, sometimes it was a mystery. I thankfully fell of the Sharper Image list some time back but the arrival of the "gift preview 2007" catalogue lets me know that the equally odd Hammacher Schlemmer company considers me (well, late spouse) worth the effort although there's not been a purchase in over eight years.

Still, it was worth a leaf through and one of the things that caught my eye was something called The Table Top Photo Studio and it got me thinking just maybe it was something to consider.

My apartment is pretty much a cave where a vampire would feel right at home. That's my way of saying that it doesn't get a lot of day/natural light. Natural light is, of course, good for taking of photos and that's becoming a real problem in trying to get good images of the knitting into the camera and onto the blog.

Obviously this setup wouldn't be very good for larger items and it might well be that I could kit something up myself (I already own a couple of tripods) but the question is whether I'd actually get 'round to kitting one up and if I did if the time and effort wouldn't suck up any savings that such a DIY effort might realise.

I asked a graphic artist or two who were sure I could create one myself for less, assured me that that's what they would do but couldn't offer any specifics on places and prices and had never actually kitted one up.

Google has not yielded a less expensive alternative although I already bought my birthday present for me (Silver Seasons earrings from a Circa AD outing), I'm seriously thinking about this especially since I could potentially use it in the business side of the house too. One of the many things that is getting in the way of self-publishing and even some electronic submissions is the photography issue. Gods know this is cheaper than the Nikon digital SLR I've been drooling over for the last four months.

Another not great birthday for the record books and I've fallen behind in getting my submissions packages together for my Master's. With the vet bills and such I'm not feeling quite as warm and fuzzy about trying to start the programme with an Open University effort in January.